17" wheels on DRW - is it worth replacing them with 19.5"?

I have 17" factory wheels on my 2017 F350 and after 28000 miles looks like the tires have at least another 30k on them.
My rear axle stays at 9000 lb and I have no mods, beside Sulastic hangers for comfort.

Not warranted on a dually unless you're hauling alot more than should go in the back of a dually.

Too lazy to go and read the numbers now, but the tires Ford put on my dually add to like 130% weight capacity than the axle is rated for.

My rear axle is rated for 9,700#+, with the 17” at 65. PSI, why go to 19.5’s just to make the ride rougher??

19.5s ride like ****, beat the hell out of your wheel bearings and balljoints, and have inferior traction on soft surfaces. If you don't need the weight capacity (which you don't on a 1 ton truck), they are not something I'd want.

My 19.5s ride fine btw but my truck was designed for them, too. I have Bilsteins and you’d never know they were 19.5s if I didn’t tell you.

19.5s have a stiffer side wall for the same diameter because the tire is equivalent more ply but also because the side wall is shorter. That means they don’t give as much as 17s/16s. Kind of like putting 19/20s on a Mustang to replace the stock 17s. They handle significantly better with less side wall give. You pay for that with ride quality on rough roads and gain 95% of the time on the paved roads.

225s which are about the same diameter as the normal 17s generally don’t have that much capacity compared to the larger sizes. Sure a bit more than 17s, but not that much.

My 19.5s are dramatically more aggressive and dramatically better traction than the standard M+S you see on 17 shod DRWs, so the inferior traction couldn’t be further from the truth. However, I can’t air them down very much either since the beads are a different style and most don’t recommend going below 60-70 PSI which is about the starting point for 17s.

Personally, I wanted 19.5s for the superior strength tire, but got them stock on my F450. If you want 19.5s, that’s a worthwhile upgrade that will give you a stronger rear axle, better brakes, and dramatically better turn radius.

Tire choice is always about compromise, but comparing truck tires to car tires is like comparing TC to DP.
In cars 18 or 19" rim means the tire is going to be slightly above 1" tall, so the little rubber will give crispy handling, but lousy bump protection.
For years cars have been coming with 16" rims and very seldom owner had damaged wheels.
Now new cars come on 18" rims and owners visit rim repair shop 3 or more times a year.
In trucks - 19.5 wheels will have bigger diameter, so still plenty of rubber for potholes taking, but higher "ply" number will make them stiffer.
Still empty truck is teeth-grinder no matter wheel size due suspension design for a ton, or 4 load on it.
From my experience 19.5 wheels are the cheapest when you drive a lot.
I had good brand 19.5 lasting 100k miles, when cheap Chinese still deliver honest 60k miles.
You want to carry bulldozer on your dually - get 19.5.
For TC no need for such extremes.

Kayteg1 wrote:
In cars 18 or 19" rim means the tire is going to be slightly above 1" tall, so the little rubber will give crispy handling, but lousy bump protection.

Uh, no. I was pretty specific. Go look at 19/20 tires/rims on a Mustang. You are off by a lot. Not surprising since I’m talking about my real experience with my Mustang and TC with 19.5s, and you are guessing.

adamboyd wrote:
For those of you with 1 ton trucks with 17" DRW's, how do you notice them performing and do you or have you thought about converting to 19.5" wheels.

We have 16" DRWs on our Dodge and they perform just fine. And, No, I have never thought about converting to 19.5" wheels.

For all but the heaviest of loads 19.5’s are not necessary on a DRW one ton truck (nowadays rated at 14k GVWR), but then you’d likely be over GVWR anyway - if they were necessary they’d come stock...